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PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

FIRST ANNUAL DINNER 

GIVKV V,Y 

THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB 

OF BROOKLYN, 

AT 

AVON : HALL, 



ON THE EIGHTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY, 



FEBRUARY 12, i8go. 



,1 



Dinner Committee. 



S. V. WHITE, Chairman. 



F. M. EDGERTON, 
A. G. PERHAM, 
ETHAN ALLEN DOTY, 
HOWARD M. SMITH, 
WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS, 



CHAS. H. RUSSELL, 
ROBERT D. BENEDICT, 
A. J. POUCH, 
WM. C. WALLACE, 
F. H. WILSON. 



..Menu 



SOUPS. 
Consomme a la Royal. Green Turtle. 

RELISHES. 

Celery. Olives. Radishes. Chow Chow. 

Sliced Tomatoes. Bouchees au Salpieon. 

FISH. 

Boiled Kennebec Salmon, Sauce Portugese. 

Potatoes Dauphin. Cucumber Salad. 

ENTREES. 
Chicken a la Francaise. 

Sweetbread Croquettes. 

ROAST. 

Filet of Beef, Mushroom Sauce. 

Vegetables. 

Butter Beans. Potato Croquettes. 

French Peas. 

SORBET. 

Punch a la Florida. 

GAME 
Plover on Toast. Boston Lettuce. 

DESSERT. 
Ice Cream. Fancy Forms. 

Biscuit Glace. Biscuit Tortoni. 

Charlotte Russe. Fancy Cakes. 

JELLIES. 

Lemon. Maraschino. 

Fruit. Flowers. 

CHEESE. 
Brie. Roquefort. 



COFFEE. 



PYRAMIDS. 

Liberty. Lincoln. 

Glaees. 

Cannon. African. 



LINCOLN TABLE. 



President Francis H. Wilson. 



GUESTS. 



Stephen A. Douglas, Esq. 

Dr. J. B. Hamilton. 

Rev. Geo. P. Mains, D.D. 



Hon. J. S. T. Stranahan. 
Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D. 
Hon. S. V. White. 



GRANT TABLE. 



Jas. Brady. 
J. J. Covington. 
Geo. M. Eddy. 
W. B. Eddy. 
W. H. Leaycraft. 
Chas. Small. 
Jacob Morch. 
F. W. Glenn. 
John W. Harman. 
John B. Green. 



Hon. R. D. Benedict. 



E. H. Hobbs. 

B. F. Blair. 
Theo. B. Willis. 
Franklin Woodruff. 
Jesse Johnson. 

A. J. W.-itts. 
J. A. Blanchard. 
A. P. Blanchard. 
H. D. Hamilton. 

C. A. Barrow. 



W. H. Beard. 
A. C. Tate. 

A. B. Catlin. 
E. G. Benedict. 

B. L. Benedict. 
E. R. Kennedy. 
W. H. Williams. 
D. G. Harriman. 
IMark Hoyt and friend. 
Hon. Geo. C. Reynolds. 



GARFIELD TABLE. 



W. Smith. 
C. E. Obrig. 

B. C. Veach. 
G. N. Gardner. 
K. E. Bonnell. 

C. Von Pustau. 
C. D. Rust. 
Frank Reynolds. 
Henry C. WelLs. 
J. F. Hendrickson. 
Wm. Coger. 

A. L. Weaver. 
Leonard Moody. 



Hon. C. H. Russell. 



P. B. Armstrong 

friend. 
B. W. Wilson. 

A. C. Hallam, M.D. 
Thos. C. Wallace. 
John S. .McKeon. 
Ludwig Nissen. 

O. B. Smith. 
E. Dwight. 
W. E. Hill. 

B. C. Miller. 

J. H. Pittenger. 
J. H. Watson. 



N. W. Josslyn. 
Rev. H. R. Harris. 
J. F. Atwood, M.D. 
J. F. Romig. 
W. F. Herbert. 
J. E. Searies, Jr. 
Ethan Allen Doty. 
W. S. Caster. 
A. D. Wheelock. 
Wm. Vogel. 
T. L. Woodruff. 
Hon. N. W. Fisk. 
John R. Crum. 



ARTHUR TABLE. 



A. J. Pouch. 



F. H. Tyler. 
H. L. Bartlett. 
J . Burns. 
O. P. Taylor. 
Geo. Robertson. 
Henry Walters. 
D. C. Reid. 
Austin Kelley. 
H. M. Hoyt. 
R. F. MuUins. 



D. M. Muiiger. 

E. V. Crandall 
John H. Coon. 
G. B. Tnpler. 
J. A. Burr. 

H. D. Donnelly. 
Wm. M. Slyer. Jr. 
A. E. Barlow. 

F. R. Leonard. 
F. E. Kirby. 
Walter Scott. Jr. 



J. S. Ogilvie. 

D. H. Fowler. 
R. L. Woods. 

E. M. Corbett. 
N. S. Munger. 
J. D. Ackeiman. 
G. W. Brush, M.D. 
Benj. Estes. 

E. E. Tripler. 
J. H. Burtif. 



SHERIDAN TABLE. 



Thos. L. Wells. 

A. J. Stevens. 

D. W. Crouse and friend. 

F. Angevine. 
A. R. Baird. 

A. D. Gripman. 
E T. Waymouth. 
Hiram Jones. 

G. V. Stoutenburgh. 
W. O. Wyckoff 



Hon. Andrew D. Baikd. 



C. W. Seamons and 

friend. 
F. R. Mooie. 
P. J. Lauritzan. 
John T. Sackett. 
John W. Hussey. 
Frank Rudd. 
S. F. Weller. 
Jas. W. Adams. 
Geo. F. Fmn. 
W. D. Stewart. 



M. T. Davidson. 
W. B. Maben. 
I. A. Lewis. 
Chas. J. Sands. 
F. ISL Edgerton. 
Frank Bailey. 
Jos. P. Phillips. 
\V. J. Rider. 
E. L. Spencer. 
Joseph P. Piiels. 



LOGAN TABLE. 



Wm. Adams. 
Chas. Muns. 
J. B. Mount. 
H. C. Larowe. 
E. C. Rice. 
A. G. Bailey. 
N. Barney. 
J. W. Cronkite. 
J. E. Hayes 
J. S. Nugent. 
Byron Nugent. 



A. G. Perham. 



J. K. Wells. 
Geo. S. Rockwell. 
N. D. W. Pnchard. 

C. Olcott. M.V. 
J. T. Story. 
Alfred Romer. 
R. O. Sherwood. 
J. O. Bedell. 

D. B. Carr. 

L. P. Twy effort. 

E. M. Merrill. 



T. A. Richards. 

C. H. Simmons. 
A. S. Haight. 

A. S. Haight and friend. 

David S. Wells. 

W. P. Rae. 

G. H. Northridge. 

W. L. Sanders. 

D. A. B.ddwin. 
Jos. Aspinwall. 
Ernst Nathan. 



SUMNER TABLE. 



W. H. H. Childs. 



\Vm. Jeremiah. 
Chas. Pierce. 
M. S. Allen. 
H. R. Rawson. 

C. T. Goodwin. 
Mr. Taylor. 

D. R. Morse. 
H. R. Morse. 
\Vm. R. Adams. 



D. M. Ressigue. 
J. B. Davenport. 
A. H. Pate. 
Alex. Robb. 
Geo. F. Gregory. 
A. D. Warner. 
Isaac Pierce. 
C. F. Hunt 
E H. B.irnes. 
W. A. Redding. 



Fred'k Halsted. 

J. J. F. Randolph. 

A. F. Bellows. 

R. S. Sayer. 

Robt. H. Halsted. 

Jas. E. Dean. 

N. Townsend Thayer. 

W, S. Silcocks. 

Wm. C. Pate. 



FARRAGUT TABLE. 



H. M. Smith. 



F B. Keppy. 
J. O. Horton. 
Harry Moon. 
Wm. Pitt Rivers. 
W. J. Young. 
T. P. Oilman. 
Henry Carson. 
F. E. Barnard. 
Wm. H. Thompson. 
John Wilson. 
C. C. Ryder. 



H. C. Alger. 
T. J. Washburn. 
W. E. Bidwell. 
.•\lbert Sibley. 
A. Edmonstone. 
C. B. Johnson. 
J. O. McDermott. 
John Huston. 
G. C. I'rainard. 
M. W. Morris. 
J. W. Cooper. 



Peter Gardner. 
A. C. Brownell. 
F. S. Cowperthwait. 
F. H. Cowperthwait. 
Wm. H. Lyon. 
S. S. Peloubet. 
E. G. Blackford. 
A. H. Wagner. 
J. O. Carpenter. 
C. N. Hoagland. 
J. G. Dettmer. 



RAYMOND TABLE. 



Members of the Press. 



THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB 



OF 

BROOKLYN. 



T 



HE first banquet given by The Union League Club of Brooklyn, in 
honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, was held in Avon Hall, 
Brooklyn, on the evening of February I2th, 1890. 

The hall, in itself attractive, was adorned for the occasion by a liberal 
use of the National Colors, while the stage, immediately behind the 
guests' table, was decorated with a profusion of tropical plants, inter- 
spersed with cala lillies and flowering shrubs, which formed a background 
to the famous life-sized portrait of Abraham Lincgln from the brush of 
William E. Marshall. 

At the left of the stage, half concealed by the palms and ferns, the 
orchestra, under the direction of A. D. Fobs, roused the guests to song 
by their spirited playing of patriotic airs. 

The table, at the right of the stage, reserved for the Press, appropri- 
ately bore the name of " Raymond." Each of the other tables bore the 
name of some noted Republican in gold letters on a ground of blue silk 
in the form of a stand banner. 

At the guests' or " Lincoln " table, were, besides the President of 
the Club, the guests of the evening: Stephen A. Douglas, Esq. ; Sur- 
geon General John B. Hamilton, of U. S. Marine Hospital Service; 
Hon. J. S. T. Stranahan ; Rev. Drs. A. J. F. Behrends and George P. 
Mains ; and Hon. S. V. White. 

About 6:30 o'clock, after Dr. Mains, of the New York Avenue M. E. 
Church, had asked a blessing, the dinner was served. 

It was just 8 o'clock when F. H. Wilson, President of the Club, 
called the company to order, and inaugurated the speech-making as 
follows : 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

Gentlemen, and fellow members of the Union League Club : Our 
National celebrations during the past few years have made prominent the 
fact that our country, brief as our history is, is rich in the names of illus- 
trious men. 

We meet here this evening, on the anniversary of his birth, to express 
our gratitude for the life of one of these, whose career illustrates the 
highest type of the true American citizen, whose eminent services to his 
country and to his race have placed the name and the fame of Abraham 
Lincoln among the patriotic traditions of our country and of mankind. 

The proper celebration of the anniversary in this city has heretofore 
been m the keeping of the Brooklyn Republican League ; and it is at 
the suggestion of an officer of that Organization that the Union League 
Club of Brooklyn has accepted this office. Let us congratulate our- 
selves, gentlemen, that we have assumed the office with so much en- 
thusiasm and under circumstances so auspicious. 

After four years of "innocuous desuetude " the party of Lincoln is 
inside the breastworks at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, not only at 
the White House and in the Senate, but also in the House of Representa- 
tives. We have resumed a foreign policy that challenges respect for the 
national name wherever the national i\ag is seen, and our own city has 
given a hostage to the nation that it shall be seen and respected on the 
sea. But, however gratifying these things may be to us as Republicans, 
we should not be in full sympathy with the true spirit of this occasion 
were we to dwell merely upon partisan victories. 

The life of a truly great and patriotic man — one who has stood forth 
the wise and successful leader in a great crisis, when liberty and country 
were in peril — is far above mere partisan praise. Such a man is an ex- 
ample to the generations that succeed him. He moulds their character, 
instructs and inspires their ]iatriotism. He is a tower of strength to 
the State. We honor ourselves in jiaying the tribute of our respect to 
the memory of such a man. 

Shortly after the battle of Chreronea, which virtually ended that 
heroic struggle for the liberty and the independence of the Greek Repub- 
lics, and left them in subjection to the power of Philip of iMacedon, it 
was proposed, at Athens, to bestow a golden crown upon the greatest 
leader of the day in Grecian politics — that consummate flower of Attic 
oratory. It was the theme that has given to tlie world that great master- 



piece of all eloquence, Demosthenes' oration on the crown; and it has 
given to us another, second only to that, the oration of his great rival and 
accuser against the granting of the crown. In it Aeschines charges that 
Demosthenes had fled from battle and that his counsels had reduced his 
city from her proud position as leader to a dependency of a foreign 
Power, and he warns the Athenians that, in paying such tributes, they 
are passing judgment upon their own character and are moulding the char- 
acter of their children. "If," said he, "your young men ask whose 
example they shall imitate, what will you answer? You know well it is 
not music, nor the gymnasium, nor the schools that mould young men ; it 
is rather the public example. If you take one whose life has no high 
purpose — one who mocks at morals, and crown him in the theater, every 
boy who sees it is" corrupted. Beware, therefore, Athenians, mindful 
that posterity will review your judgment, and that the character of a city 
is determined by the character of the men it crowns." The Athenians, 
mindful of the heroic efforts of their great orator and Statesman for the 
independence of Athens and for the liberties of Greece, denied to 
the accuser the necessary votes to sustain his indictment. It was the last 
worthy tribute of Athens to the expiring voice of liberty in Greece. 

But, my friends, the great man whose memory receives to-night this 
tribute of our gratitude, our respect, our love, wears his crown with no dis- 
senting vote. He wears it by the unanimous judgment of his country and of 
mankind. It is the tribute paid to those rare qualities of true greatness. 
For a man to be great, says a critic of the reign of Louis XIV., " must 
be generous and just; he must be unselfish, and he must have respect 
for his fellow man." This is an exacting definition. It excludes, not 
only the French monarch, but nearly every man that fills so wide a space 
in history. But it does not exclude our Abraham Lincoln. Generosity, 
justice, unselfishness, respect for his fellow men, were his distinguishing 
characteristics. 

If, in expressing our gratitude for his services and in paying these 
tributes to his character we are judging ourselves and moulding the char- 
acter of our children, it is good for us to be here. And, in behalf 
of the members of the Union League Club of Brooklyn, I express 
our cordial welcome and return our cordial thanks to these distinguished 
guests who are here, at so great inconvenience, to add to the occasion the 
encouragement and the dignity of their presence. 

The principal s|)eaker of the evening was Stephen A. Douglas, Esq., 
of Chicago, who spoke to the toast " Abraham Lincoln." 

13 



la introducing Mr. Diuglas, who is a son of Senator Stephen A 
Douglas, Abraham Lincoln's great contemporary and rival, reference 
was made to the interview between Lincoln and Senator Douglas, on the 
evening of the attack upon Sumpter and to the effect produced through- 
out the North when the dispatch that conveyed the President's call for 
troops conveyed, also, the intelligence that Senator Douglas, the leader 
of the Northern Democracy, had cast the weight of his great influence in 
support of the National government and for the preservation of the 
Union. 

Nothing could exceed in warmth the welcome given as Mr. Douglas 
rose to speak. He spoke deliberately and with telling emphasis, and the 
utmost interest was manifested throughout the speech, which was fre- 
quently interrupted by prolonged applause. 

SPEECH OF MR. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Union League Club of Brooklyn: 
Since receiving your kind invitation to be here my mind has gone back 
to the days when I knew as a child may know a President, the great man 
the anniversary of whose birth we to-night celebrate. I knew not then 
that he was a statesman, but even then I knew he was a patriot, for my 
father who had but lately died had told me so ; and that in that great strug- 
gle all men must be either patriots or traitors. But this much I did know 
that whenever and wherever I met him he always knew me and always 
found the time to pull my ear or muss my hair and greet me kindly. He 
was tall and awkward and ungainly, and possibly a homelier man never 
lived ; but his huge hand rested upon my head so gently, and his eyes 
were tender, his voice was low, and he smiled so sadly and yet so 
sweetly as he spoke gentle, kindly words of the father whom I had 
lately lost. 

And thus I remember Abraham Lincoln, and thus I learned to love 
him as a child. Maturer years brought with them the study of my 
father's career, inseparably interwoven with which I found the career of 
Mr. Lincoln. I studied the two together and sought to analyze the 
character of each, for each, though in different degrees, was dear to my 
memory. And thus was formed the view of the character of Abraham 
Lincoln which I shall present to you to-night. My view of him may 
differ in some things from that held by others. Indeed, I believe it will 
vary widely from the generally accejited view of Mr. Lincoln's life and 

14 



character. I believe I am right, but I may be wrong; but right or 
wrong, it is conceived in love and kindness, for, apart from my father, 
there is no name in all the world's annals which I reverence as I do the 
name of Abraham Lincoln. 

I hope I may be pardoned for saying that in the generally accepted 
view of Mr. Lincoln's character there is a tendency to glorify his heart, 
to exalt what may be called the child qualities of his nature, while reduc- 
ing to a minimum what may be called his man qualities. Briefly he is 
described as a dreamy, poetic nature, a man of reverie and not of action, 
a man almost incapable of saying no, whose great heart often ran away 
with his judgment, a man whom all loved and respected, but none feared. 
Politically he is described as a child of destiny, a creature of circum- 
stance. We are told by one great authority, the late Leonard Swett, 
that he was ".no politician," a man who in politics would neither do any- 
thing for himself nor permit his friends to do anything for him. We are 
told that he never sought for himself position or fame or honor, but 
simply sat and dreamed and drifted and drifted and dreamed, until 
almost despite himself he became the savior of a nation. 

Again, others have described him as a man with practically but one 
aim in life — the freeing of the slave — which he pursued in season and 
out of season ; and that this was the sole, or at least the first, object he 
sought as President. These I believe are the generally accepted vie.vs 
of Mr. Lincoln. To them all I dissent, respectfully but emphatically, 
because they dwarf him of his manliness, because they make him a 
dreamy drifter, moulded into shape by circumstances, instead of a clear- 
headed, kind-hearted, strong-handed man of iron will, who moulded cir- 
cumstances'and compelled success. 

Politics proper is defined to be the science of government, while 
party politics is often found to be the science of misgovernment. A 
statesman is one skilled in statecraft, but in the proper meaning of the 
word a politician is even more. He must know not only the strength 
and weakness of the government, its needs and its superfluities ; he must 
know the strength and the weaknesses of the people. He must know 
their varying humors, their whims and their prejudices. He must know 
their methods and habits of thought, and, above all, he must be in per- 
fect and constant sympathy with the great mass of the people. And in- 
somuch a man falls short of this knowledge and this sympathy he falls 
short of being a perfect politician. The brain of the statesman may con- 
ceive the acme of governmental wisdom, but without the sympathetic 

15 



knowledge and skill of the politician it will remain but a golden 
dream. 

Bismarck, the great German statesman, is perhaps more skilled in 
statecraft than any other man now living, and yet not even our pro- 
hibition friends would consider him enough of a politician to lead their 
infant party. He knows nothing of the wishes and the whims of the 
people. He cares only for the wishes and whims of his master. With 
his hand upon the helm of the German empire he is great. Here he 
would be without a vocation, for, thank God, this is a government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people, which sliall not perish from 
the earth. 

In this, its proper sense, Abraham Lincoln was the clearest headed 
and the shrewdest, as well as the cleanest-handed and the purest politi- 
cian this country has ever produced. He knew that the world was made 
better and happier not by the greatest good that man could dream, but 
by the greatest good that man could do. In his soul he heard, no doubt, 
the music of wonderful melodies that none but angel harps could sound, 
but his hands sought only such work as human brain and brawn could 
do. He sought only the known attainable, and he sought it only by the 
best attainable methods. In the sick-room he used the methods and the 
services of the most skilled physicians ; in the court-room, the methods 
and the services of the most skilled jurists. And he sought political re- 
sults by the best approved methods of the most active and skillful poli- 
ticians. Let me say right here, for the benefit of those to whom the 
word politician suggests something disreputable, that a ward Ijumnier is 
no more a politician than a quack is a physician or a shyster a lawyer. 

Yes, Mr. Lincoln was a politician, the ablest as well as the purest, 
the keenest as well as the grandest, the world has ever known, and it is 
because of his skill as a politician that this undivided nation lives to bless 
his memory. 

Mr. President, llie time wliicli I may pr(>perly occupy to night will 
not permit niy going into any extended detail of Mr. Lincoln's cat eer ; 
and yet something of detail is necessary. In speaking of Mr. Lincoln 
as an Illinoisan I must perforce refer to another lilinoisan whose career 
fate has inseparably interwoven witli liiat of tlie martyred President. 
That Illinoisan was my father. 

A legard for the proprieties of this occasion will prevent me from dis- 
cussing his career anil from setting forth his side of the public questions 
ujion wliich he and Mr. Lincoln differed. At the same time, a proper regard 

l6 



for the truth and for my own self-respect requires me to say this : Mv 
father's career needs no apology at my hands, or at the hands of any living 
man, and in all his life's history, whether as public servant or private 
citizen, there is not one act which I regret or which I would change. 
More than this I must not say. Yes, be it proper or not proper, I will 
say one thing more. It is no merit of mine that I am Douglas' son, and 
were it not necessary 1 would not mention the fact, but I am proud of 
that fact ; proud that this nation honors his memory ; proud because I be- 
lieve that if Abraham Lincold were here in other than spirit form to-night 
he would say to you as he said to me with his hand resting gently on my 
head and his eyes looking kindly down into mine : " iMy son, your father 
was an honest man, who loved his country better than he loved himself." 

I have said that Mr. Lincoln's skill as a politican formed one great 
element of his usefulness to this nation. Early in the fifties the aggressive 
attitude of the South began to cause an uneasy feeling throughout the 
North. The whig party had practically disappeared and the republican 
party had not yet been formed. The political field in Illinois was occu- 
pied by the democratic party and a discordant opposition united in noth- 
ing but their opposition to the democracy. In 1854 a legislature was 
elected which would elect a successor to General James Shields, then in 
the senate from Illinois. The opposition practically united on Mr. Lin- 
coln to lead their forces in that campaign, and in event of victory he was 
promised the succession to Shields' seat in the senate. The brunt of the 
campaign was thrown upon him. He canvassed the state and succeeded 
in securing an opposition majority in the legislature. One component 
part of the majority was five or six followers of Judge Lyman Trumbull, 
known as "free soil democrats." While the other members of this 
majority stood by Mr. Lincoln and insisted on sending him to the sen- 
ate, the few Trumbull men would vote for no one but Trumbull, and 
finally succeeded in forcing Mr. Lincoln from the track and sending 
Judge Trumbull to the senate. So you will see, that Ohio is not the 
first state where the man who was the weakest before the people, proved 
the strongest before the legislature. 

Of course, Mr. Lincoln was bitterly disappointed, and out of this dis- 
appointment grew the memorable campaign of 1858 and the famous Lin- 
coln and Douglas debates. The most curious thing about that campaign 
was that it should ever have occurred. Never before or since have two 
men been the acknowledged and declared candidates of their respective 
parties for the United States senate before the election of the legislatuie 

17 



with which rested the choice. In every other instance, both before and 
and since, the legislature has been first elected and then the legislative 
party caucuses have selected their senatorial candidates. The reason 
why Mr. Douglas was the candidate of his party was simply that his- 
leadership was absolutely unquestioned and he was the sitting senator. 
But the reason for Mr. Lincoln's authoritative candidacy is not so plain,, 
for, remember, he was not then the Lincoln of later days. Tradition 
gives this explanation of the unique circumstance. Tradition says that 
the party managers came to Mr. Lincoln and said ; " We believe that 
with your great ability upon the stump you can carry the legislature 
against Douglas. If you will take up the fight and succeed we will make 
you senator." Tiie same tradition further says that Mr. Lincoln replied : 
" Methinks I have heard that siren voice before. I have a faint recollec- 
tion that if I carried the legislature against Shields I was to succeed him 
in the senate. And yet I am not a senator." 

The upshot of the matter was that the republican state convention 
nominated Mr. Lincoln for United States senator, and instructed and 
pledged all republicans who might be elected to the legislature to his 
support. Having thus become the official and unquestioned leader of 
the republican party in Illinois he was in position to demand recognition 
as such from Mr. Douglas. The famous Lincoln-Douglas debates fol- 
lowed and thus came Mr. Lincoln's opportunity to become known to the 
nation. He may have dreamed of this opportunity, but most certainly 
he did not drift into it. He hewed the opportunity out of adverse cir- 
cumstances. From the gloom and sore disappointment of one disastrous 
defeat, by the sheer force of will and political sagacity he forced himself 
from a position of local leadership into a position of personal rivalry with 
the most noted northern leader of the opposite party. Having thus made 
his' opportunity most brilliantly, most wonderfully did he use it. 

The uneasiness with regard to the aggressive attitude of the South 
had grown more and more pronounced. So arrogant had the South be- 
come that it carried the fight into the northern states and sought the 
political death of every democrat who did not bow the knee to the 
Moloch of slavery. Notably in Illinois, they waged a bitter warfare on 
Mr. Douglas, and a curious spectacle was presented — the slave power 
seeking to elect Abraham Lincoln to the senate. Every federal ofiice- 
hnlder in that state was given his choice of resigning or of assisting in 
the defeat of Mr. Douglas. In every country where sufficient timber 
could be found out of which to construct a ticket a bolting adminisiratioa 

i8 



legislative ticket was run to take off votes from the Douglas ticket, and 
thus assist in the election of republicans to the legislature. The result 
of all this was to increase the anti-slavery sentiment throughout the 
North ; but this sentiment, while general in its existence, was local in its 
intensity and in the methods advocated in opposition. These methods 
ranged from the temperate designs of the the free soiler seeking to re- 
strict slavery to its then existing limits up to the fever heat of absolute 
abolition. Nooneof the national republican leaders had enunciated a 
principle or laid down a platform upon which these diverging and dis- 
cordant elements could meet or could be united ; and without the union 
of all these elements success could not be hoped for. 

Thus matters stood when Mr. Lincoln forced himself upon the atten- 
tion of the country as the personal rival of Senator Douglas. With this 
wonderful political sagacity he chose his ground, a ground no other man 
had been able to find, where those who sought to oppose slavery by con- 
stitutional methods could stand shoulder to shoulder with those who- 
sought to overthrow it by revolution. Planting himself squarely upon 
the platform of the non-extension of slavery and disclaiming any inten- 
tion to interfere with it where it already existed, he added: "A house 
divided against itself cannot stand. I believe that this country cannot 
endure permanently half slave and half free." 

The solution of the vexed question was reached, and the newly found 
western leader had in a sentence enunciated the principle upon which, 
two years later, he led the repnblican party to its first victory. Follow- 
ing up the record briefly as far as we have gone, we find that Mr. Lin- 
coln forced his nomination for United States senator by the state con- 
vention, a nomination never sought before and never obtained since ; 
that thus he became the official leader of the republican party in Illinois 
and the personal rival of Mr. Douglas, and could and did demand recog- 
nition as such from Mr. Douglas ; that this position, so skillfully yet so 
quickly secured gave Mr. Lincoln the ear of the whole country; that he 
utilized his opportunity with the nation as an audience to enunciate a 
doctrine which, while upon its face was but the idle dream of a philoso- 
pher, was yet so cunningly contrived and skillfully phrased as to not 
alarm the most conservative sticklers for strictly constitutional methods, 
and yet filled with joy and hope the souls of the most rabid revolution- 
ists. 

No man ever hewed his path from private life to the head of a gov- 
ernment, the leader of a nation's hopes, as did Abraham Lincoln in the 

19 



two short years from '58 to '60, and every foot of that path he hewed 
with his own hand. Does any one believe that it was by chance, with- 
out effort or wish of his own, that he was nominated for United States 
senator by the state convention — a thing that never happened before nor 
since ? And yet without such nomination he could never have had his 
debates with Mr. Douglas, who would most properly have refused to debate 
with every or any man who simply hoped to be a candidate against him. 

Without the place in the mind of the nation he made for himself by 
these debates, Mr. Lincoln might have repeated "a house divided against 
itself cannot stand " until his voice were gone, and it would have found 
no echo outside the State of Illinois. He may have dreamed of all this, 
but certainly he did not drift into it. He trod the path from Springfield 
to Washington, from private life to the presidency, in two short years, 
and never in the world's history has one man, in so short a time, shown 
so much political genius, so quickly, so magnificently to conceive and so 
brilliantly to execute. 

And thus Mr. Lincoln came to the presidency. His first act was the 
act of a consummate politician. He built his Cabinet out of his republi- 
can rivals for the presidency. His Cabinet reminds one of his platform; 
it was an impossible combination to any one but him, and it meant differ- 
ent things, according to the standpoint from which you viewed it. I be- 
lieve the country outside or Illinois then thought that Mr. Lincoln would 
be a figurehead, Ohio looking to Chase as the real President, New 
York believing in the supremacy of Seward and Pennsylvania never 
doubting the ascendency of Cameron. This would annoy some men : it 
amused Mr. Lincoln. He was fond of saying that he had no influence 
with his administration, and yet no man was ever more absolutely Presi- 
dent than Mr. Lincoln. Imagine a weak, gentle man, of a shy, poetic 
nature, with a heart full of kindness, but with naught of sternness or of 
character, overruling Chase and Seward before breakfast and tackling 
Edwin M.Stanton for lunch. No, gentlemen, no man on earth knew 
better how to say no when necessary than did Abraham Lincoln. He 
was gentle and kind, and patient and long suffering but still he was the 
master, and when it was necessary he made it emphatically known and 
thoroughly understood. When he was at the helm his hand often rested 
lightly there, but this only happened when the ship of state was straight 
upon the course he had mapped out for it. Even when he was most 
patient and long suffering a careful analysis will discover more of politi- 
cal skill than of gentle weakness. 



When a man was in the army, and was really a fighter, Mr. Lincoln 
would stand pretty nearly anything from him, and when he was a demo- 
crat, even though not a fighter, Mr. Lincoln was very, very slow to 
anger. Does any one believe that if George B. McClellan had been a 
republican Mr. Lincoln would have permitted him to have occupied the 
semi-menacing attitude to the administration he did for so many months ? 
Does any one doubt that if Secretary Stanton could have controlled mat- 
ters when McClellan left the army he would have been headed toward 
the old capitol instead of toward the presidency ? 

Mr. Lincoln recognized at the outset that to suppress the rebellion he 
needed the services of every loyal democrat in the North. He recog- 
nized the fact that while it took only the Lincoln men to make him Presi- 
dent, it would take both the Lincoln and the Douglas men to keep him 
President. Therefore he did everything to show the world that no 
democrat was proscribed and that all democrats were welcome. Where 
a democrat would do as well as a republican the democrat got it. Mr. 
Lincoln thought it was politics to do this then, though 1 doubt if Mr. 
Lincoln would think it were politics to do it now. His task was different 
from that assigned Jefferson Davis — different and infinitely more difficult. 
i\Ir. Davis had a united people behind him and nothing to do but to sup- 
ply his defensive army with men and munitions. To provide for his 
army was the least of Mr. Lincoln's troubles. His greatest trouble was 
to keep the North quiet long enough to permit him to whip the South. 
To do all this required all the skill and all the arts of the most skillful 
and artful politician, and I sincerely believe that it was only the unap- 
proachable genius as a politician that he displayed in those trying days 
that saved this nation. 

We do not readily appreciate the conditions with which Mr. Lincoln 
had to deal. We practically have forgotten that from the beginning ot 
the war to its close he was continually harassed and annoyed by a hostile 
and stubborn minority, which was always respectable in numbers and at 
times assumed enormous proportions. We do not remember, or at 
least do not appreciatively remember, that within six months of the 
close of the war 1,802,000 men voted for a platform in which was the 
declaration, "Justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand 
that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities," while only 
2,2 13,000 men voted for the vigorous and unrelenting prosecution of the war. 
To bring the matterh ome, you have almost forgotten that on that issue 
the Empire State gave 5,000 majority against the continuation of the war. 



It is necessary to recall these things to do full justice to Mr. Lin- 
coln's care, patience and skill in handling the malcontents at home. He 
had to be all things to all men. Here he used a gentle hand and there a 
hand of iron. One complaint was met with soft words and another with 
the bayonet. To have gotten the soft words and the bayonets mixed and 
misapplied would have been serious, probably fatal, and yet only the 
greatest political skill could prevent such misadventure. But political 
skill alone could not have made Mr. Lincoln so wonderfully successful 
during the war. To my mind the secret of his success was his absolute 
singleness of purpose. As President he had but one object in life, and 
that was to save the union. All other things were simply considered as 
means to that end. 

In regard to slavery, he wrote in answer to an open letter of Mr. Gree- 
ley's in the autnmn of 1862 : " My paramount object is to save the union, 
and not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the union 
without freeing any slaves I would do it ; if I could save it by freeing 
all the slaves I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and 
leaving others alone I would also do that." 

All other questions, questions of foreign policy, questions of finance> 
questions of readjustment and reconstruction were all relegated to a 
time when the paramount question of national existence should have been 
settled. With any duality of purpose success would have been impos- 
sible. If Mr. Lincoln had sought to have preserved both the union and 
slavery the union woukl have perished, or if he had sought to preserve 
the union and destroy slavery, the union would have been destroyed and 
slavery would have beed preserved. We can all see that clearly now. 
No one but Abraham Lincoln saw it clearly then. 

The wonderful success of that great man was built ujion these two 
qualities : First, an absolute singleness of purpose, and second, a 
political skill and sagacity amounting to genius in the carrying out that 
purpose. He was, under all circumstances, the strong man without 
weakness. His heart was tender and kind, but his head controlled his 
heart, and in political matters harshness replaced gentleness when harsh- 
ness was best for the country. He used the same iron will to govern 
himself as to govern others. He did not permit others, he did not per" 
niit himself, to do anything that would interfere with the success of the 
cause. 

Had he been a bad man his intellect, his will and his sagacity would 
have ma le him a scourge to the world. Hut no purer patriot ever lived 



than he, no warmer, kinder heart ever beat than his. He luved the 
ways of peace and gentleness. He loved his country. He loved his 
fellow men. He lived and moved and had his being that the world 
might be better and purer and happier. He died to live forever in the 
memories and hearts of freemen, the high priest of liberty, slain at the 
altar. He stands in all coming time as a rainbow of promise that a 
■" government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not 
perish from the earth." 

As the last words fell from the speaker's lips, cheer after cheer rang 
out from the crowded room, the band and the audience lending all their 
energy in the expression of their approval. 

When quiet was restored Mr. F. M. Edgerton, Secretary of the Din- 
ner Committee, read the following letter from Hon. Benjamin Butter- 
worth, of Ohio, who was to have spoken on "The Duty of the United 
States in the Extension of our Foreign Commerce." Its sentiments were 
greeted with applause. 



MR. BUTTERWORTH'S LETTER, 

House of Representatives, U. S. i 
Washington, D. C. February lo, 1890. \ 
Mr. F. H. Wilson: 

We are endeavoring to settle the controversy over the rules, and 
pending the action of the House in the matter of the adoption of the 
report of the majority of the committee it is important that every Repub- 
lican member should be in his place. It seems now certain that we shall 
reach a vote Wednesday evening. This, as you will readily see, compels 
me to send my regrets for Wednesday night. You realize, of course, 
that I can do more service to the cause here in an emergency like this 
than I can in partaking of the cheer and hospitality of my friends in 
Brooklyn. I regret exceedingly my inability to be with you and ex- 
change views touching the duties that devolve upon the Republican party 
at this time. 

If I had been permitted to bear witness on Wednesday, I should 
have said that it is incumbent upon this Congress to do two things 
in order to deserve and have tlie confidence of the American peo- 

23 



pie. One thing is to revise the Tariff, and by revision I do not mean 
a mere transposition of unjust exactions, but a revision tliat will revise, 
that will relegate the tariff system to the discharge of its proper function, 
which is to equalize conditions and impart to industrial competition the 
quality of fairness and humanity, Beyond that it ought not to go, and 
must not unless we desire to run upon the rocks. We must remove the 
restrictions which hamper our trade with Canada and the South Ameri- 
can States. 

Nothing is more absurd and more ruinous to the interests of the 
mass of people than to erect a wall along our northern border and 
turn back the sweeping tide of our commerce upon ourselves when it 
reaches an imaginary line running east and west through Detroit. The 
Republicans must learn that the tariff deals with conditions, not with 
boundary lines ; that its office is not to destroy com]>etition, but, as I 
have said, to impart to it the quality of fairness. 

Our trade with Canada can be quadrupled, and our commercial inter- 
course with Mexico and the South American States be so extended as to 
prove of immense value to our people, I am well aware that both of these 
methods will be opposed by certain individuals, by certain firms and cor- 
porations, and the reason is clear. "The ox doth not low over his fod- 
der, nor the wild ass bray when she is fed." The individual firms and 
corporations that will oppose do not touch slioulder with the interests o\ 
the public. 

We have just succeeded, as you are aware, in throwing the shackles of 
absurd rules from us, and can now legislate, the majority being responsible 
to the country for the laws enacted, so that it is in our power to adjust the 
tariff schedule with direct reference to the irregularities to be corrected ; 
and I hope we may be able, by our course of conduct as legislators, to 
make it clear that our protective system is more in the interest of Ameri- 
can workmen than it is in the interest of so-called pauper labor of Europe. 
What we witness to-day as to the effect of unlimited immigration raises a 
doubt as to where the greater benefit is bestowed. 

The voters of the country are the power behind the legislative throne, 
and Congress will do what seems to be demanded Ijy a consensus of ]iub- 
lic opinion. Let us hope that we will read ymir will arit;ht, and fairly 
respond to what the country requires for its pro>perity. 

Thanking you for your courtesy, etc., 

Benjamin BtrnKKWoKiii. 

24. 



REV. SYLVESTER MALONE'S LETTER. 

]]rooklyn, Feb. S, 1S90. 
Gentlt-z/ien of the Union League Club : 

I appreciate fully your invitation to join you in honoring the President 
to whom we owe the preservation of the Union and the accomplishing 
the most Christian work done in this century, namely, the liberation of 
the slave. I can only promise to be with you in spirit. For some years 
a condition of health has compelled me to avoid all evening gatherings 
and assemblages of my fellow citizens, and this must plead my excuse 
for not accepting your kind invitation. 

When in 1861 I conversed with Abraham Lincoln and General Scott, 
my soul was fired with enthusiasm and patriotic ardor. It was the time 
for action, and the sacred cause of the American Union had all the best 
efforts I could give to strengthen the majestic hands of a majestic President, 
whom your patriotic club will honor on the 12th prox. With best wishes 
to all the members of your club, I am, 

Very sincerely yours, Sylvester Maloxe. 

Mr. Peter Ryan, who had been selected to speak on " Our Friends 
and Neighbors," telegraphed his inability to attend, and the Rev. A. J. F. 
Behrends, of the Central Congregational Church, was introduced with 
the remark that the reverend gentleman had full permission to choose 
subject for himself. 

Dr. Behrends said, among other things : 

When I accepted the invitation to be present this evening I was as- 
sured it was to be only as a guest, and to listen and be edified by the 
gentlemen invited to do the talking. With this belief I went to bed 
Tuesday evening and slept the sleep of the just, with no bad dreams. I 
had just eaten my breakfast this morning when a member of the club 
called on me and suggested that if I had any loose material lying around 
my study that would be suitable for a speech I might as well get it ready. 
I really do not know what to talk about. As I have the choice of a sub- 
ject, I may, so to speak, spread myself over the whole world. I might 
talk to you about the World's Fair, but that seems almost past talking 
of, or I might talk about the revision controversy in the Presbyterian 
Church. I won't, however; I'll talk a little about Lincoln. 

My political education began during the first Presidential campaign 

25 



of Abraham Ivincoln. Cncal men arc the t;ifts of God to the nation and 
the woild, living examples for imitation. I shall always look back as on 
the prondest moment of my life to the day when I was able to cast my first 
ballot for I>inci>ln. As Mr. Douglas saw him so did I see him. The thing 
thai slnuk iiie ino'^l forcibly about him was the wonderful simplicity of 
his miiul. 1 do not mean by that that he was childish. His simplicity 
enabled him to strip olT the husks that covered the kernel of truth and 
get at the heart of things. He appealetl to my immature understanding. 

I am sure that all who knew Lincoln must be impressed by the manner 
in which he retained his mental sim]ilicity. Who does not remember 
the few Winds he spoke at the deilication of the battlefield of Gettys- 
burgh ? He was unprepared with a s[H'ech, and when told on the train 
that he would be expected to say something, he just scribbled down a 
few notes on a loose piece of paper he had. Mr. Mverett had a speech 
prepared that tilled one hundred pages. \\ lion Mr. Lincoln had fin- 
ished his brief oialiou. Mr. Everett said he would sooner have written 
those Iweutv lines than twice one hundreil pages. Mr. Lincoln gauged 
the heart oftiie nation, so that tlie \erv lirst words went home to all wlu^ 
heard them. 

Another feature of the man was the absorption of his mind and 
heart to secure the jneservation of the national life and the good of 
the commonwoaltii. Never were sweeter words spoki-n since the utter- 
ance of the angel Ines^ellger, " Glory to God in the highest, goodwill to 
men," than those of Lincoln, " With malice towaril none and charity to 
all." 

1 believe the lime has come for a jiolitical revival. No one is 
more lit to lead it than Lincoln. Kulogies are cheap. It is easy to 
scatter llowcrs over the heroes' graves. It is another thing to imbibe 
their glorious spirit and march forward in the path they have pointed 
out. 

I may liken Lincoln to Paul. Paul was the most remarkable 
Christian politician who ever walked the face of the earth. He was a 
consummate leader. He always said and ilid the right thing at the right 
time ami place, was all things to all men. There. 1 am talking away. 
When you get me on Paul I don't know when to stoji. 1 want to tell 
you, you must do the best vou can with the material vou have. I am 
not going to make a speech ; 1 am iust drilling on. 1 should like to see 
something done. Let our words be put into deeds. Nothing can be 
accomplished without a good deal of lighting. Do not hold up your 

26 



tiaiiils ill lioly liniroi. 'I'aUc oil' ymir <n;iis and ^'o lo woilc. Kiiocli (Hit 
the evil jind put ilic ^^ixnl in lis |ihuc. 'I'liis alone will save llic nalinn 
ami srnil ils .aliilaiy |i<mv('i I<i iIic ends oflhf farlJi. 

I h. ncliiciid', words were received willi liiai ke(| a |i| H cival. 

I »i. I oh II !'.. I I am ill on, ol (he U idled Slates iMai ine llos|iital Sei vice, 
was llie iiexl s|)caker. llis siili|ccl was "l.im'olii and Ilis ( 'liosen 
SliUc — l''ailliliil 1(1 liim and lo his coiinliy, she leiniccs in his acliicvf- 
nients, and is {iiniidol ihc unlading lam els wiih \vlii( li hislory crowns 
liini." 

KHSPONSH BY SURCHON-GliNI-UAI. IIAMII TON. 

Mr. Chciininni : 

1 Mil iiioi c acciislomccl lo other |uiisiiit.s llian that ol inaUint^ s])eecl>e.s, 
and vd.asa native ol Illinois —tlic State of Lincoln — I t:annol it-press 
Ihe cinoli.Mi called (iiil hv ihis loasl. 

Lincoln was no ordinal \' man, and he lived in no oiilmaiv limes. 
He became llie arliilei of llie desliny ol millions of men, and well lie 
]M'rforme(l the 1 1 list. Risiiu; Iroiii an eii\ ii onnienl ihal would, ihroii^li 
lile, have kept down an a\eia;;e man, he lo his conlempoi ai iis liecaniC 
successively 1 he compaiiidii, ihc ai',!;ressive leader, and llie I leiie voleiil 
propliet. Wdieii alinosi ihe lasi ol ihc icii million luillels ol ihc war 
laid him low, the civili/.ed world mourned liis dcalli, and it was 
icNcieiillv noliccil that tile llaj; of his I'oiiiilry, as if to aveiiL;e his deatll, 
lliul ensnaicil ihc IccI o( the muideici and made capture a forcj^oiie 
conclusioii. 

Illinois had liccii settled liy llie I'lcinh in ll>7^, ycl w lii'll Tlioiuas 
I ,i II coin enleicd llie land wliicli Ahraliam Lim olii and John I I auks fenced 
with the now hishnic lails, il was slill on Ihe frontier. Lile in llie new 
Stale was piiiiiili\c indeed. The yoiiiii; lawyer imliilieil Ihe spirit of 
licedom when he Ine.illicil llicaii ol llu- prairies, as he "rode ihe cir- 
cuit " wil h his Ici^il lirclliren. 

W'c may iniaeine those e\ ci lastiiif; concc-pl ions of llie rii^hls of man, 
wdiicli ill allei lile he so (doipieiitly expi'essed, were here fonnulaled. It 
was thus early he aiinouiice(l ids intention lo speak af^ainst slavery until 
" ihc sun shall shine, the rain shall fall, and the wind shall Mow upon no 
man who j^oes forth to uiireiiuited toil." 

Loyally lo ihe I'nioii was contalmsl in Ihe oit^anic (udinance of the 
Norlhwesl Ten iloiy, which set forth Ihal such U'l i iioiy " was lo reniaiii 
forever a pari of the ( 'on ledeiacy of the United Slates." Liiuoln, lak- 



ing an active part in all the schemes of internal improvement of the 
State, early saw that the inhabitants of this great food-producing area 
could never consent to send its products to the Atlantic or to the Gulf 
through a foreign conntry. In any conflict the Prairie State must be 
true to the Union, and when the fate and perpetuity of the Republic 
depended largely upon the faithfulness of its President, what 1 venture 
to call the composite spirit of his State helped to strengthen and sustain 
him. 

It was this spirit that shone from the face of Douglass when he, at 
Lincoln's inaugural, grasped his rival's hand and assured him of his firm 
support. 

It was this spirit that animated the breast of Logan and his brave 
troops on every battle-field. 

The State of Lincoln, and Douglas, and Logan has a right to be 
proud of those, her children, whose virtues are acknowledged of all 
men, and whose fame is now the common heritage of our great Republic. 

Lincoln lies buried near the shores of the Sangamon ; Douglas by 
the limpid lake ; Logan's dust will shortly be borne to its last resting- 
place near his favorite city, in soil made sacred by the memory of its 
illustrious dead ; and for ages to come it may seem to the living that the 
sighing winds, passing from their resting-place on the lake to his on 
the beautiful river, are carrrying tender messages of sympathy and love. 

Mr. Wilson then introduced Hon. J. S. T. Stranahan, who, he said, 
had consented to say a few words. 

Mr. Stranahan received a cordial welcome as he arose to speak. He 
said that at so late an hour he could hardly be expected to say more 
than a few words. " I was your delegate," he said, " to the Convention 
at Chicago that nominated Abraham Lincoln when he first ran for Presi- 
dent, and I was also a 4Glegate-at-large to the Convention in Baltimore, 
four years later, that renominated him for a second term." He was, he 
said, in the people's service then, and was so still. 

Mi. Stranahan made a brief review of the conditions of Lincoln's time 
and the conditions of to-day, and said that then there were only four States 
along the Mississippi, and now there were fourteen joined together by 
bands of steel in the shape of 20,000 miles of railroad tracks. In con- 
clusion, Mr. Stranalian said tiiat this country was now an indestructible 
Union composed of indestructible States, and that such a condition existed 
all honor to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. 

Wlien the applause wliich testified liow well Mr. Stranahan's words 

28 



had accorded with the feelings of liis audience had ceased, Mr. Wilson, 
said that the exercises of the evening would not be complete without a 
few words from Hon. S. V. White. 

Mr. White said, in part : 

At this meeting in honor and commemoration of virtues let me add 
one word of practical advice to the Republican party. It is that that 
party, in the face of the smoke and dust raised by Democratic newspapers 
should understand its duty. The Democratic papers say there is an at- 
tempt to throttle the minority in the House of Representatives. Noth- 
ing of the kind. An attempt is being made by men whose names wil 
long be remembered to relieve the country of the tyranny of a minority 
which has not its par in the history of the world. If there are 300 men 
present in the House of Representatives and 155 are ready to vote for a 
given measure, and the 145 will not vote, it is the most absurd proposi- 
tion in the world that the 145 can block all legislation by refusing to votg 
when, if even 12 of them voted " no," there would be a quorum voting 
and the measure would carry. If the 155 vote to further legislation they 
do their duty, and those who hinder the work should be held up to the 
execration of men. What Mr. Carlisle did by indirect means Mr. Reed 
has done directly. When we honor the men of Lincoln's day don't let 
us forget Reed and McKinley and Butterworth. 

Somebody called for three cheers for Reed, and they were given with 
a will. After a rising vote of thanks to the speakers and to the Dinner 
Committee the party broke up. Mr. Douglas held an informal reception 
for about a quarter of an hour after the exercises were completed, every- 
body pressing forward to shake hands with him and say how much they 
had enjoyed his speech. 



PRESS OF ALFRED 0. BEEKEN 



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